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People & Places: Corporate moves in May 2020
We recap some of the personnel announcements we heard about this past month.
People & Places, May 2020
Expanded Leadership Role for Dan Griffin
Dana Incorporated has announced an expanded leadership role for Dan Griffin. As senior director, aftermarket and digital solutions, Griffin will lead Dana’s global aftermarket business units and will be responsible for operations, sales and marketing, product planning, e-commerce, data analytics, and the development of growth strategies that deliver an exceptional customer experience. Key areas of focus will include vehicle electrification and Dana’s real-time ecommerce platform, DanaAftermarket.com.
Griffin has more than 20 years of experience in sales, business development, program management, and operations. He joined Dana in 2016 as vice president and general manager of Dongfeng Dana Axle Corporation, a strategic joint venture between Dana and Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd., and was subsequently named director of global aftermarket. Prior to his new role, he served as senior director of strategy, product planning, and program management for commercial vehicle drive and motion systems and the aftermarket.
Before joining Dana, Griffin served in a commercial vehicle and program management leadership role for International Automotive Components (IAC) in China and as a seating engineer at Lear Corporation where he helped to successfully launch a new Chrysler seat system. He earned both a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Sales director for special markets
Kenny Gross has been named sales director, special markets for chassis component manufacturer Mevotech.
He will report directly to Todd Hack, executive vice president, sales and marketing.
“Kenny joined Mevotech just over a year ago, and since that time, he has made great strides as a regional sales director in the Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, and Carolina areas,” Hack said.
In his new role, Gross will focus on generating leads and building relationships with potential customers in special markets.
“This is a new initiative for Mevotech as we work to sell into new channels such as the medium and heavy duty markets, and specialty manufacturers such as ATV and UTV,” Hack said.
Continental promotes Sean Lannoo
Continental, a leading global supplier of systems, components, and tires to automobile and truck manufacturers, has named Sean Lannoo as the sales technical training supervisor for the company’s VDO, REDI-Sensor, ATE, Autodiagnos, and ClearContact aftermarket product lines. The announcement was made by Liam Dent, head of special vehicles and technical training, who noted, “We are delighted to recognize Sean Lannoo with this well-deserved promotion. He has been the primary catalyst for the success of our fast growing and very popular training program, which he initiated in 2013.”
Sean Lannoo leads a team of 11 training specialists who provide technical support and education on Continental aftermarket product lines to customer sales personnel and professional technicians throughout the United States and Canada. These activities include presenting and demonstrating the capabilities and advantages of Continental’s aftermarket technology and OE quality replacement parts programs.
Dent added, “In addition to his overall automotive knowledge, experience, and ASE certifications, Sean is an expert in tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS). His contribution to the development of our aftermarket TPMS program has been invaluable and helped position our innovative, VDO REDI-Sensor Multi-application TPMS Sensor as one of the leading replacement TPMS sensors on the market.”
Lannoo joined Continental in 2013 as the Sales Technical Training Specialist for the company’s VDO-branded aftermarket product lines. Since then, Lannoo has expanded the scope and reach of the program to encompass all of Continental’s aftermarket products.
Sean Lannoo had previously been with Continental from 1997 to 2010, where he played a key technical support role, serving as both an Engineering Analyst and Product Manager. In addition to his TPMS work, Lannoo also handled the company’s aftermarket instrumentation, ATE Brakes, in-vehicle GPS navigation systems, and audio systems.
Dennis Letham named Tenneco chairman
The board of directors of Tenneco Inc. has appointed Dennis J. Letham as its new chairman.
Letham who had formerly been the lead independent director, succeeds Gregg M. Sherrill, who served as non-executive chairman of the board since 2018, and as chairman for over 10 years after joining Tenneco in January of 2007 as the company’s chief executive officer.
Sherrill will remain a member of the board and announced that he intends to retire prior to next year’s annual meeting of stockholders.
“It’s been an honor to serve as Tenneco’s Board chair for the last 13 years,” said Sherrill. “I’m confident in our future and in Dennis’ leadership as we continue our commitment to the best governance practices by refreshing our board leadership positions with highly qualified individuals.”
Letham has been a member of the board since 2007 and for many of those years has served as the chair of the board’s audit committee.
He has significant public company executive experience from his more than 35-year career, including serving as executive vice president and CFO of Anixter International Inc. from 1995 until his retirement in 2011. He currently serves as a director of Extra Space Storage Inc.
“For the last 13 years, Tenneco has been and will continue to be very fortunate to have Gregg’s steady hand and strong voice in the board room,” said Letham. “I look forward to continuing to work with Gregg and the other directors as we continue to oversee the successful execution of Tenneco’s strategic and financial objectives.”
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